Harvesting heads of the draper type use endless belt conveyors to move crop material inwardly from the ends of the harvesting head to a central region of the harvesting head, and then rearwardly from a central region, underneath a feed roller, and then through an aperture in the back of the harvesting head and into a feederhouse that extends forward from the agricultural combine on which the agricultural harvesting head is mounted.
The feed roller engages the top surface of the crop mat being fed rearward from the two side conveyors. Several adaptations of been tried over the years, including fingers fixed to the outside surface of the feed roller, fingers that extend and retract into the feed roller based upon its rotational position, and fingers that extend and retract into the feed roller disposed at an angle to sweep in material from the outer ends of the feed roller.
None of these have been completely satisfactory.
What is needed therefore is an improved feed system for harvesting head. It is an object of this invention to provide such a system.